Just a month in office as health minister and Leo Varadkar has confirmed that three of the government's top priority health promises will not be realised.

The HSE will not be abolished next year, every citizen will not have free GP care by 2016, while universal health insurance will not be in place by 2019.

The decision to abolish the HSE was a populist pre-election tactic deployed by Fine Gael in the run up the last election. The Programme for Government said it 'would cease to exist', the subsequent government roadmap on health reform 'Future Health' said 'the HSE would be dissolved' in 2015.

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